Maca & other superfood powders and root extracts during a fast?

Hate to use the word superfood, but in this context I'm talking about non-fruit & non-seed superfoods, suchs as maca, ashwagandha and other powders. For example, a teaspoon (7 grams) of maca contains about 5 grams of carbs.

Without discussing the benefits of these products, what's your take - if taken during fast window, any disadvantages? For example maca is claimed to have beneficial effects on stress levels, might seem like a good idea during a fast, especially preworkout?

That might be beneficial if you were someone that naturally had upregulation of COMT and high-activity MAO genetics (See "Warrior COMT Genes"). Although, it still doesn't seem useful to me in a fasted state with physical exercise stressors.

For me, a superfood breakfast would be something like an organic vegetable soup using bone marrow broth, turmeric / spices, and a whole grassfed chicken. Mineral water, magnesium, and himalayan salt would also be nice to replenish some electrolytes and support the adrenals.

Thanks paleot, that is very informative. Not sure what my goal is, my thought process was that those are very healthy "superfoods" and might be better absorbed or utilized during a fast. I actually did the Maca/fast combo a couple of times and it actually gave me very bad anxiety and what I think was a panic attack! So yeah, now it all makes sense with the overflow of adrenaline/noradrenaline and I will go ahead and recommend people not to try this! :)

That might be beneficial if you were someone that naturally had upregulation of COMT and high-activity MAO genetics (See "Warrior COMT Genes"). Although, it still doesn't seem useful to me in a fasted state with physical exercise stressors.

For me, a superfood breakfast would be something like an organic vegetable soup using bone marrow broth, turmeric / spices, and a whole grassfed chicken. Mineral water, magnesium, and himalayan salt would also be nice to replenish some electrolytes and support the adrenals.

Fasting will increase your production of adrenaline / noradrenaline and increase dopamine sensitivity from the start.

Maca is a great source of copper, which helps you to convert your excess dopamine to more noradrenaline. Maca also has some slight MAO Inhibitor action which slows MAO's breakdown of adrenaline / noradrenaline / dopamine (which are also broken down by COMT), further boosting their levels.

Nutritionally, these "superfoods" are basically powdered grains. When you flood your system with stress hormones your body won't be particularly interested in detoxification and optimal functioning / methylation.. you'll be flying in survival mode, running on a few spoonfuls of nothing but carbohydrate-based cereal dust and indian ginseng.

I don't see that providing a particularly beneficial effect on your stress levels, especially with a workout thrown on top (which increases adrenaline / noradrenaline / dopamine production.) Maybe in a hormesis sense.